Snow Day, Cont'd - February 15, 2021

 As I sit here this morning, looking out of my living room window, I am just furious with this weather.  It is colder than a well-digger's butt outside.  The ice that fell last Wednesday night is still here, topped off with yesterday's dusting of snow.  Last night, the weatherman said that we're due for up to 9 more inches of snow by the middle of the week.  I just heard a local news reporter say that the current temperature is 9 degrees.

This is absolutely ridiculous.  

It looks like it will be several more days before I can go to work.  I ought to spend the time cleaning and organizing my craft room.  Don't be any money on that happening.

Snow Day - February 12, 2021

 

I didn't really trust the TV weather people when they said an ice storm was coming.  Nevertheless, before I left work Wednesday, I contacted people with whom we'd scheduled conference calls to give them an alternate phone number, just in case we couldn't make it to the office Thursday.  Good move.  During the night Wednesday night, the ice came - not a terrible storm, but enough to make the roads treacherous.  

Yesterday morning, The Husband called all of his employees and told them to work from home, and he set up to work in our home office.   I wandered around the house for a couple of hours, looking for something to do.  You might think that with all the new "toys" I've bought, I'd have plenty to keep me occupied.  But all of the projects I wanted to do lacked one or more crucial ingredient, I could not settle into anything productive.

About 10 a.m., I said to The Husband, "I think I'll run up to the dollar store.  Do you need anything?"

He said, "WHAT???"  Like I'd lost my mind.  But I'd watched several vehicles pass the house, and they were moving pretty much like normal, and although trees blocked my view of the steep hill up the road from us, it sounded like the cars and trucks were climbing it without incident.  I intended to try it.

The Husband followed me outside as I went to check the road conditions for myself, pointing out how slippery the sidewalk and driveway were.  Undeterred, I went to my car, intending to crank it and warm it up for the short trip, but the car was encased in ice.  I could not get the door open.  Watching from the doorstep, The Husband had his "told you so" look on his face.  I came back inside, took off my coat, and watched some of the impeachment hearing.  

Two hours later, having had all the TV I could stand, I filled my watering can with hot water, took it outside, and de-iced my driver door enough to get in and crank the engine.  Turned the heat up full blast and set it to blow on the windshield.  Twenty minutes later, I still had to hack ice off the windshield.

But I made it to the dollar store and back without incident.  Yeah, these country backroads were slippery, but I was careful.  I remembered my daddy telling me, "When you're driving on ice, you have to drive like you don't have any brakes, because you don't [have any brakes]."

It was a l-o-n-g afternoon.  I spent most of it slaying Nintendo monsters (I am a BAD ASS with a virtual sword in my hand).  ;)  

I am going to do better today.  

Kitchen Table Musings - February 8, 2021

 

I spent the whole weekend at the kitchen table, trying to learn how to use Inkscape, a graphics program.  Thank goodness for YouTube videos (in this endeavor and many others).  

You see, I've been trying to come up with a way to use the new heat-press machine for something other than t-shirts for the grandchildren, the point being to make the machine pay for itself and all of the crap I had to buy to go with it (the pipe dream of all crafters).  I spent some time adding up material costs and figured I could make a little money with t-shirts IF I could come up with designs that would sell.  

I've had an idea about a cartoon character (of my own creation) combined with a realistic Jeep image.  Combining the two proved to be a challenge, hence the need for the weekend spent trying to learn enough Inkscape to get the job done.  

While pondering, I had a thought that excited me; I could do up some shirts and sell them at a Jeep rally that we've attended a few times.  I had no clue what a vendor booth might cost, or if space was still available, but I fired off an email to the dude reportedly in charge of such things.  Haven't heard back from him, yet.  Haven't heard back from the Jeep club as to whether I can use their name/logo.  

Meanwhile, it occurred to me that the designs I was pondering to put on shirts to sell was most likely a violation of some copyright/trademark law.  I did some research and concluded that using a Jeep image (or even the word "Jeep") in my designs could get me sued, or at least get me a "cease and desist" letter.  So, nix those Jeep-related designs. 

Back to square one.

From the back porch - January 28, 2020

 

This porch-sitting may not last long - it's a little on the chilly side.

I'm going in when my hands begin to freeze.

Another new toy - a new laptop - arrived this week.  I'm typing on it now, test-driving it on the porch.

New computers are such a bitch.  Once I woke this one up, I spent a good hour going through the settings to make sure that it won't, of its own accord, snap my picture and send it to Alexa, who might then send it to the world as a Halloween horror screen saver, or something.  Once all that was done, I started re-installing the software I need to run my toys.  I hope I can find everything I need online, for this new machine doesn't have a CD drive and can't read my old program discs.  Next, I'll have to gather up the files that are currently strewn between my old laptop and the old PC.  That'll be fun.  And I don't have another mouse, yet (I hate keyboard mice).  

I got a shipment of heat-press-related goodies this week - ordered some baby "onesies" and some keychains to play with.  My new granddaughter can wear the onesies that I screw up as I practice.  

Aaaannnnnd I'm cold.

Time to go inside and do something useful.

From the Sewing Room - January 21, 2021

 

Since my last post, I have a new granddaughter.  Daughter #4 for my son and his wife.  There is a 16-year spread between the four girls.  God be with them, and their parents.  

Since my last post, the laptop has migrated to the sewing room.  It moved from the back porch to the kitchen table when the weather turned cold.  It never was a very comfortable place to roost.  The kitchen chairs are hard.  Sitting in them for very long hurts both butt and back, so I haven't been spending much time at the laptop, which means I haven't done much digitizing.  I probably would have put up with the situation a while longer, except that the 3 Sisters spent a few days with us while Sister 4 was being born.    All three of them were doing virtual school, and we needed three more spaces for folks to work and eat.

The sewing room is the sensible place for the laptop, since I occasionally have to use it when transferring a design to a machine.  I do have a sensible place to work in here - my cutting table, which I seldom actually use for cutting.  I also have a decent chair.  But, land sakes, this room is very nearly a death trap.  Extension cords, pedals, and bags to trip over, and boxes that probably house whole families of spiders way down in their bottoms. On a good day, it looks like something from the hoarders tv show.  The 3 Sisters love it in here, and we trashed it up even more while they were visiting.

We re-arranged the cutting table again and tried out a new toy - a heat press machine, the kind people use to imprint vinyl onto t-shirts and other things.  The girls and I played with it, and came up with a cute onesie and a glittery "Welcome Home" sign for the new baby.  After they went home, I successfully put a vinyl design on a t-shirt.  The machine will do mugs and hats and other things, and I can us my embroidery software to digitize designs that we can cut out with my old cutting machine.  

Oh, and it can do heat-set rhinestones.  

I'm 'bout to have me some fun up in here..  ;)

From the kitchen table - January 11, 2021

 I am seriously tired of this cold weather.  Just had to get that on the record.

My kids gave me a paint-by-number thing for Christmas.  It's a landscape, and it's so detailed that I have to use a magnifying glass to read the numbers.  There is not a paintbrush in existence that is small enough to accurately fill in the tiny sections.  To top it off, my hand shakes.  After a few hours of working on the painting, I finally gave up trying to be precise and started approximating the outlines.  The painting is close to finished.  I'll show you when it's done.

I spent this weekend either painting or practicing my mandolin.  I signed up for an online beginner mandolin course and a theory course.  You might think that after 4-5 years of piano lessons and 3 years in a high school band I'd have the theory down, but I don't; I did not care about theory, I just wanted to play.  It looks like this theory class is going to improve my playing more than the mandolin class.

By this time next week, we should have a new granddaughter.  She has been giving her mother all kinds of trouble for the past month.  I am not sure when we will get to meet her, given the covid concerns.  Her mom is quarantining in advance of her birth and may not want any visitors for a while.  She is predicted to weigh more than 9 pounds at birth, even though she'll get here a couple of weeks early.  I should probably go buy her some new clothes, for she won't fit those newborn sleepers for long!  She will be daughter #4 for my son and his wife. 

We're having short days at work this month.  Because of the covid spread, state courts are not having any in-person hearings except for emergencies. It's a weird world.

 

Happy New Year - 1/1/2021

 

Happy new year to you both.

We had a quiet New Year's Eve, as usual.  It's been YEARS since we've gone out to celebrate.  The noise, the cold, the drunks - it's more than I can stand, even in a good year.  I cooked a pot of chicken & dumplings and some sweet peas with mushrooms, and we ate them while we watched a couple of music theory tutorials on my laptop at the kitchen table.  Exciting, eh?  That's how we roll.  

By 9:30, I was in bed, finishing a book.

If this was a normal New Year's Day, about now I'd be cleaning up from a dinner I would've cooked for my siblings, but since we are social-distancing, it's just me and The Husband.  We'll be eating left-over chicken & dumplings instead of blackeye peas and cabbage.  (I do have some left-over slaw in the refrigerator, so we might get a bite of cabbage, after all.)

For most of the day, I have been a lazy bum, and don't have any plans to change that before the day is over.